


Memories That Aren't Mine

by Randomblackberry



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Angst, Crazy theory fic, Gen, Post DDD, self indulgent
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-11
Updated: 2017-07-11
Packaged: 2018-11-30 14:39:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11465694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Randomblackberry/pseuds/Randomblackberry
Summary: "Aqua!" Ventus, Roxas, whoever, shot upwards, staring first at his friend and then at the strangers surrounding him. "Where am I? These people..."A sort of bittersweet smile crossed Aqua's face. "It's a very long story, Ven, but these are our friends, you can trust them,"Beautiful eyes blinked slowly, gazing around the room with abject weariness. Ventus's half lidded stare landed on him, and the befuddled expression on his face only becomes more conflicted."Axel?"He fell into Aqua's arms, and Roxas went to sleep once more.





	Memories That Aren't Mine

**Author's Note:**

> This is one of the crappiest things I've ever written and I am ashamed. I've always wanted to explore the idea of Ventus being connected to Roxas by more than appearance, but I do not have the best grasp on kingdom hearts lore and storyline (neverplayedyhegamescoughpleasedonthateme) so I decided to just write a fic instead of making a fool of myself theorising on it. Apologies for the huge oocness of all the characters here. As you can probably guess this is my first KH fic. Well, please enjoy!

To be honest, Lea wasn't even sure why he was even there. He certainly held no love for Castle Oblivion, and was probably only tagging along out of sheer boredom. The castle was mainly deserted, only a few stray heartless lurking on some of the outer floors. With two keyblade masters, Riku and Aqua, plus somebody who probably deserved to be a master twice over, Sora, there was no need for Lea to help. But still he was there, because the alternative was more training. And getting his ass kicked by Kairi of all people just because he couldn't summon his keyblade half the time was not fun.

"Wow," as always, any lapse of silence was broken by the youngest member of their group. "This place is huge..." Sora cast his gaze around excitedly, taking in the stark white halls and polished ceilings. He turned to Riku with a spring in his step. "So this is where I went to sleep, huh?"

Lea was flabbergasted, honestly, how he could just talk about that so flippantly, as if he hadn't lost a year of his life at such a young age. But then again, he himself had hardly given his life much regard when he was a nobody, so who was he to speak?

Riku looked a little troubled by Sora's apathy as well. The place no doubt held bad memories for him too. 

Perhaps it was better that Sora had forgotten.

"Yeah," Riku exhaled loudly. "Castle Oblivion,"

Aqua looked at them sympathetically. "It was the safest place to put Ven at the time," she explained, and then gestured towards one of the large ornate doors. "C'mon, its this way,"

Despite not having stepped foot in the place in over ten years, Aqua easily navigated the area, leading them into a room Lea hadn't even been aware of during his visit. It was good that that room had never been searched. Else the end results would have been weird.

Aqua was practically quivering with well contained excitement by the time they reached the final door, eyes shining with the desire to see her friend again. As soon as the doors opened she bolted across the room, crouching down by Ventus's side.

Ventus lay very still, arms rigid by his sides. His eyes were closed, but his chest rose and fell, indicating a healthy sleep.

"Oh, Ven..." Aqua's voice was filled with joy. It gave a slight crack as she bent over to embrace the boy in a hug. If Lea hadn't been on the other side of the room he would have noticed the tears threatening to spill from her eyes.

The repressed Nobody part of him wanted to make a snarky comment at the sappy reunion, but he had quickly learned that Aqua's glares could kill, and that getting on the wrong side of her would probably end in certain death.

Instead Lea remained by the door, eyeing the whole situation carefully. He found himself asking himself why he was here again. Watching Aqua collapse with joy at the sight of one of her closest friends should have been heartwarming (and his heart could warm now cos, y'know, he actually had one) but instead filled him with a bitter sort of jealousy.

Roxas...

He shook himself out of his thoughts. Riku and Sora approached Aqua carefully, taking a peek at the sleeping Ventus.

And then Riku jumped backwards like he'd been burned.

Lea straightened up, quirking an eyebrow. "What's wrong? Don't like what you see?"

Aqua glanced upwards, troubled by Riku's harsh reaction. "Is something wrong?"

The lines on Sora's face creased as he thought, the expression accompanied by an almost adorable pout. "He looks...he looks really familiar,"

"That's..." Riku still hadn't composed himself, clearly, voice quivering like a leaf. It was certainly enough to garner Lea's attention. Not much could trouble the stoic keyblade master, who looked beyond troubled and into downright disturbed. "Why the fuck does-"

Lea crossed the room before he could finish, eyes landing on the target of the fuss. Still half cradled in Aqua's arms, Ventus's neck and chest were covered by her protective arm. Still, he had a perfect view fluffy blonde hair and skinny little arms.. He felt his breath catch in his throat.

"-he look like Roxas?"

"Roxas?"

Sora's eyes lit up with recognition. "R-Roxas! Now that you mention it..."

The rest of Sora's sentence faded away, numbness overtaking Lea's body. His heart ached, desperate and hopeful.

Could it truly be....?

"Who?" Aqua looks skeptical now. She moved away from Ventus a little, allowing Riku and Sora to examine him more closely.

"He's...he looks identical to Roxas," as if suddenly remembering his presence, Riku turned, fixing Lea with an almost sympathetic gaze.

Lea didn't know what he was going to say. He never found out, as all of a sudden, blue blue eyes fluttered open. They blinked, unfocused, before flitting over to rest on Aqua.

"Aqua!" Ventus, Roxas, whoever, shot upwards, staring first at his friend and then at the strangers surrounding him. "Where am I? These people..."

A sort of bittersweet smile crossed Aqua's face. "It's a very long story, Ven, but these are our friends, you can trust them,"

Beautiful eyes blinked slowly, gazing around the room with abject weariness. Ventus's half lidded stare landed on him, and the befuddled expression on his face only becomes more conflicted.

"Axel?"

He fell into Aqua's arms, and Roxas went to sleep once more.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

"He looks like Roxas. He looks like fucking Roxas, is nobody going to acknowledge this?" 

Okay, so maybe Lea was overreacting. Then again, this kid who had apparently been asleep for twelve years had the same face as his best friend so maybe even more freaking out was warranted.

From her place in the gumni ship, Aqua glared at him, Ventus's head in her lap.

"I don't know who you're talking about, but this is Ven," worry was evident in her voice, fear that perhaps the person she held in her arms wasn't Ventus after all. "He recognised me," she added, as if to reassure herself.

"And he recognised Axel," Riku flopped down next to Lea, gazing contemplatively at the sleeping Ventus. He turned his eyes on Lea. "You've never met him before, right?"

"It's Lea. Got it memorised?" he said, almost on instinct, and at Riku's unimpressed look, dived deep into his memories.

He remembered a boy with a wooden keyblade and a bright smile. He remembered how childishly he fought him with a pair of frisbees. He remembered Isa, back when he was the greatest friend he had ever had, watching the impromptu sparring match with a smile on his face.

He remembered everything.

"Once," Lea said quietly. Quiet, but enough to carry over all the way to where Aqua was.

"What? You know Ven?"

"I met him once. But not...not as a nobody. He shouldn't know that name," Lea was certain of it. Ventus and Roxas, although similar, had a different gleam in their eyes, a different kind of determination. When Axel had laid eyes on Roxas for the first time, he had barely even thought about the similarity he had had to the boy he had met all those years ago.

It was ironic. He made so much effort to be remembered he didn't even remember the people he asked to be remembered by.

"Are you absolutely sure?" Aqua's voice held a little desperation, and Lea knew what she wanted. She wanted it to be as she asked. That Axel had met Ventus and that was that.

That Ventus was whole, himself. She cradled him in her arms like a newborn babe, but one would have to be blind to miss the way her fingers shook as they held him, making Ventus bounce a little in her unsteady grip.

"For what reason..." Sora mumbled, unusually thoughtfully. "Would Ventus look like Roxas?"

"No," Riku shook his head. "You've got it the wrong way round. Ventus came first, right? So the question is, why would Roxas look like Ventus?"

Still not properly functioning, Lea found himself speaking of his own accord. "It has to do with our little keyblade prodigy then," he snarked, voice devoid of his usual dry humour. "After all, Roxas was your..." he trailed off before the word he didn't want to say but they all knew.

Roxas was not a nobody. Maybe a Nobody, but he was someone. How could someone like that be heartless, damnit? Roxas had been the kindest most emotional person (Nobody) he had ever known! In the end he had gone willingly back to Sora. If Lea had been in his position he would have stubbornly fought tooth and nail, not sacrifice himself for the greater good.

Just went to show how much better a person Roxas was.

"But I...I've never seen Ventus before, I don't think so anyway. And he's older than me! How could I be involved?" Sora's voice rose a little in panic before falling back down to a more acceptable level.

"Let's wait until he wakes up," Riku decided for them, finding himself having to take control in the room of stunned people.

If he wakes up, was the unsaid question, but nobody wanted to voice it. Sora looked in deep thought, Aqua's head was bowed and her fingers still shook although not as jerkily. Lea was simply silent, cursing himself for feeling so emotional.

It had been so much easier when he had been a Nobody, not knowing how to feel. Everything had been muted then, sadness placed under a tarp and played at low volume. It almost made him wish to go back to those days, when he didn't have to think, didn't have to feel-

No! What was he thinking thinking like that! He loved being human, being able to laugh and smile and cry for real.

He loved it.

It didn't hurt at all.

Not one bit.

-/-/-/-/-/-/

Ventus woke up before they reached Yen Sid's tower, and nobody knew if this was a good thing or a bad thing. He came to in Aqua's arms with a stuttered gasp, and all eyes were on him in seconds. 

Ventus lifted his head and turned observing the faces staring at him with mixtures of hope and dread. Nobody said anything.

"You're...Sora," he said quietly, and everyone tensed. His eyes drifted past and his next words were laced with skepticism and caution. "And you're...Riku," finally his gaze fell on Lea. "And Axel? Or...Lea?"

"It's Lea. It was Axel," Lea spoke up. "When, well, Roxas,"

"Roxas..." Ventus lifted a heavy hand to his heart. "I feel him. He's sad,"

"What are you saying, Ven?" Aqua's voice was fearful but still motherly, as she brushed Ventus's hair away from his face.

"I let him into my heart," Ventus's voice was off pitch, off beat, wrong. It was a distortion of sorts, a distortion, everyone realised, of both Roxas's and Ventus's voices, playing together in sick harmony. "Just like...." he turned to Sora. "Just like you did,"

"Huh?"

Ventus pushed himself up to a sitting position, swaying slightly as he did so. Aqua steadied him as he surveyed his surroundings with bright eyes.

"I remember everything. What happened, Aqua? What happened? Sora was just a child...no wait, no, he was my age, he...he went to sleep, I...I went to sleep? But I was in a virtual town, right? I was with Axel, Axel and-" Ventus crumpled a little. "I can't remember. There's someone important, someone important to me-Roxas,"

"You're Ventus," Aqua said, supporting him as he threatened to collapse again. Fear and horror were written in her eyes, but she overcame her emotions, explaining with as steady a voice as she could muster. "Remember the Mark of mastery? The test Eraqus set us on? We went and saw the worlds, and then Terra..." her voice cracked all of a sudden and she bowed her head to hide her emotion. "We lost Terra to the darkness. You've been asleep for twelve years, Ventus. I am so so sorry I couldn't get to you sooner,"

"Twelve years! Wait, what!" Ventus shook himself out of Aqua's grip. "Are you crazy? It can't have been twelve years, you look the same as ever,"

"Time doesn't flow like normal in the realm of darkness or sleep," she smiled sadly. "It's true. The world's changed a lot since before you went to sleep,"

"So then, Organisation XIII, Axel, Sora and Riku..." Ventus trailed off, looking to the three in turn for answers,

"Those are Roxas's memories," Lea's voice was choked. "Not yours,"

Ventus's shoulders quivered, starting to wrack with the beginning of aggressive sobs. "I'm...sorry," he croaked.

Aqua drew a protective arm around him, uttering reassurances to him under his breath. She directed a quick glare at Lea. He didn't care. He felt numb. Which was nice. It meant he didn't have to think again. 

Ventus looked like Roxas.

Ventus had Roxas's memories.

But Ventus was not Roxas, would never be Roxas no matter what.

Roxas was gone.

**Author's Note:**

> It's kind of an aprubt ending, I know. It has the potential for continuation, with them trying to separate Roxas from Ventus's body, but I don't know if I'll have the time to write it. (I'm currently writing a trash Cleon coffee shop AU for KH) anyways, to just throw an idea out there (there is no way this theory is correct but hey why not try) let's say that when Riku performed heart surgery on Sora he inadvertently removed the hearts of Roxas and Ventus (It is entirely possible that Xion's and even Vanitas's were removed as well, but Xion is more of an empty husk with no memories and Vanitas doesn't find his way to Ventus.) With Roxas and Xion having no bodies to return to, they look for a source of light, Ventus whose heart was returned to his body. A la Ventus taking refuge in Sora's heart in BBS they take refuge in Ventus' heart. Except he is aware of what he is doing unlike Sora, and has a strong connection with the hearts, allowing him access to Roxas's memories which kind of overwhelms him. So yeah. If you shoot this theory down please do it gently as I haven't done all my research and I know it's probably flawed I just wanted to get it out there just in case??? And I know Sora got Roxas's memories in DDD but it had such little impact on the plot and I feel it'll be likewise skipped over in KH3 so that's why it wasn't mentioned here. Anyways long A/N aside, thank you so much for reading, and kudos comments and bookmarks are greatly appreciated!


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